Hoboken Residents Tricked In Phone Scams; Police Issue Warning

HOBOKEN, NJ — The Hoboken Police Department is asking residents to be mindful of possible phone scams after recent thefts involving thousands of dollars.

On Thursday, the HPD announced that officers have recently been receiving reports about “several scams.”

“Some of the most recent scams have been from callers claiming to be from the IRS or Social Security Office,” police stated. “The victim is threatened with arrest if they do not withdraw money from their bank accounts and purchase gift cards. The money is later withdrawn after the victim provides codes for the gift cards.”

Hoboken police detailed two incidents of alleged fraud in a news release:

• “On Wednesday January 9, 2019, the victim receives a phone call from an unknown person claiming to be from the Social Security Office out of the State of Texas. After being informed of a possible arrest warrant for the victim, she was advised restitution could be made by withdrawing all the money from her personal bank account in order to purchase gift cards. Once the gift cards were purchased the codes were sent to the unknown person. The victim later realizes that the conversation was part of a scam and notified the police department. The money was later transferred out of the gift cards. The victim suffered a loss of approximately $5,900.”
• “On Wednesday January 9, 2019, the victim claims she received a call from the Social Security Office about an arrest warrant and was given instructions to withdraw all her money from her bank account and to deposit the money into bitcoin machines. The victim made a deposit of $3,000 into a Bitcoin machine in Jersey City and another $3,000 into another Bitcoin machine in Hoboken. All codes were given to the caller. The victim suffered a loss of approximately $6,000.”

Hoboken police said that residents who get a call similar to the scams mentioned should not engage the caller, and should terminate the call immediately.

If you’re unsure if a call is a scam, reach out to the Hoboken Police Department for assistance at 201-420-2100, authorities said.

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